![]() When her husband was away from Rome, her cousin Sextus Tarquinius took advantage of the night to rape her, and he threatened to accuse her of having spent the night with a servant if she told, leading Lucretia to consent to the rape. She was regarded as one of the most beautiful and respected women in the Roman Empire. She was the daughter of the consul Spurius Lucretius and the wife of Collatinus. We are aware of the story of Lucretia through the Roman historian Titus Livius. This magnificent Lucretia by Lucas Cranach should be ensconced into this context of taste for the female nude and the moral reasons that allowed it to be accepted into cabinets and collections all around Europe in the 16th century. On the other hand, German 16th-century painting was also interested in the iconography of the strong woman, one of the favourite themes of Cranach and his atelier, with particular reference to the biblical heroine Judith and the classical Lucretia. The theme of the nude, both males and females, was quite common, with infinite versions of the subjects of Adam and Eve, Hercules, Venus and the sleeping nymph, in which artists like Albrecht Dürer, Hans Baldung Grien and Lucas Cranach clearly excelled. ![]() He made more than 50 versions, which are joined by the replicas, variations and versions that emerged from his family atelier, a sign of the success of this iconography in Germany during the Reformation.ĭespite the position of the Protestant world concerning images, which was critical at first, the fact is that the reformed religion developed an extensive and highly varied iconography of its own, quite different to the one fostered by Roman Catholics. However, his fellow German painter, Lucas Cranach, was the one whom we could say specialised in the theme. In the German-speaking world, Albrecht Dürer painted yet another Lucretia in 1518 (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), this one stylised but not very beautiful. In 1571, Titian sent the King of Spain, Philip II, an impressive composition with the theme of Tarquin and Lucretia (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), and Lorenzo Lotto made another original version in around 1530-1532 (National Gallery, London). The iconography of Lucretia was held in particular esteem in Renaissance painting.
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